Racquets win top of the table clash to close the gap

The Lisburn Racquets Premier A team saw off leaders Boat Club 8-7 and are now just eight points behind in second place

The hard-earned win came as a result of hard foughts wins in the first two games while Conor Hickland also chipped in with two points.

1. Stephen Hearst 3 Adrian Leeson 1 (11/7 7/11 11/2 11/5)

2. Todd Gowdy 3 Marty O’Neil 0 (11/9 11/2 11/)

3. Stuart Campbell 0 Thomas Abraham 3 (5/11 7/11 6/11)

4. Conor Hickland 2 David Rosenberg 3 (6/11 11/4 11/6 6/11 8/11)

RACQUETS B TEAM

The Division One B team had a winning 8-6 draw with Boat club

Neal McDowell lost 3-0 against Josh

Donal lost 3-2 against Ellie

Peter Barclay won 3-2 against Jack

Stevie Archer won 3-2 against Damien

RACQUETS C TEAM

In Division Two, the C team beat Mid Ulster 10-4.

1. David Hamilton 3 Matthew McNabb 1 (9/6 1/9 10/9 9/1)

2. Lewis Kirk 0 Lawrence Hastings 3 (7/9 7/9 4/9)

3. Neil Copeland 3 Adrian Farmer 0 (9/3 9/1 10/9)

4. Peter Robinson 3 Neil Hastings 0 (9/5 9/2 9/7)

RACQUETS D TEAM

In Division Three, the D team lost to a very strong Ballynafeigh C team 4-11.

First on was Ken Moore against 13 year old Ansh Pahuja, who is undoubtedly an up and coming star.

Ken played very well but Ansh was able to keep him at bay 3/9, 6/9 & 5/9.

Next up was Michael Graham against hard hitter Justin McIlroy.

Michael won the first and the third sets 9/5 but forgot to bring his racquet for the second and lost1/9. The fourth and fifth sets brought just one point between them for Micahel as Justin ran riot.

Derek Rollins was next against Ben Browne in a tight game. Derek took the first and the third 10/8 but Ben ruled the roost in the second and fourth, winning 9/4. There was disappointment for Derek in the fifth as Ben won 9/4.

The last match was between John Floyd and the tricky Mark Hatt. Mark taookthe first game 9/6 and the second 9/5. John couldn’t get it together in the third either and lost 2/9

MASTERS

The Masters beat Lagan Valley Tigers in the local derby 10-5 to stay top of the league, ahead of the Boat Club by eight points

First out, Peter faced the very tricky Pauline and after losing the first, he recovered to take the next game but tired with the 12 shot handicap and narrowly lost the decider.

On the other court, bandit Neal gave Julie a bucketful of points and was in fine form powering his way to the first 15-4. The next two games were much closer though Neal kept his cool to take the match 3-0

Mark, now famous for his interviews on local television, was at the peak of his game destroying his useful opponent in straight sets with his usual unorthodox drops and volleys. He sure was on fire and the heat was on Lagan Valley

Davy McClay, struggling with his new -25 handicap, looked as if he had taken Harry in the opener but just lost out and went on to lose 0-3

The other Davy (Hamilton) was up against the hard hitting John and incredibly won the first from -12 to +10 behind, catching his opponent out with deadly drops and eased to a 3-0 win

JUNIORS

Congratulations to SuperTodd Gowdy on winning last weekend’s Ulster Junior Closed Under 17 Section. He did so without dropping a game, proving that he is the man to beat in Ulster.

And Hats off also to Todd’s cousins, Sam (11) and Harry (8) Gowdy, who both punched well above their weight in the U13 section; Sam winning two of his three matches to take runner-up. Harry won one of his matches, and took the first seed to a nail-biting decider.

Also in the Under 13s, the ever-improving Aron Smit finished a creditable fourth, as did Aaron Lowry in the U17s. Helen Brown in the U19s had 3 really tough matches against formidable opposition including the European number two Hannah Craig.

So well done to them all, their very supportive parents, and coach Kieran Doherty

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